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“It’s going to be an interesting day on the markets when the US wakes up, given how the European Union has firmed up plans to get heavy on anti-competitive practices among giant tech firms,” says Russ Mould, Investment Director at AJ Bell.
“So far pre-market indicative prices show minimal change in the prices of Apple, Alphabet, Microsoft and Meta Platforms even though their world is about to be turned upside down in Europe.
“The writing has been on the wall for some time and the big tech firms will find it hard to fight the Digital Markets Act. It will force the tech giants to open their platforms and services to other companies, such as giving customers the option of using a third-party payments provider when buying something on the Apple app store.
“The tech-heavy Nasdaq index in the US had a strong session on Thursday, rising 1.9% on the day and extending a strong run since 15 March. It may find it harder to sustain momentum once investors weigh up the potential impact to big tech earnings.
“On Friday, European shares were relatively flat amid the absence of any major corporate or economic news. Real estate and miners were in fashion on the UK market, but the FTSE 100 was held back by weakness in the big oil companies.
“Is a cash flow crisis about to hit Russia-based gold miner Petropavlovsk? It has been caught up in sanctions on Russia whereby its lender Gazprombank is no longer able to buy its gold.
“Historically the bank had an agreement to buy everything Petropavlovsk produced, so the miner must now find a new taker for its precious metal. That’s going to be difficult in the current environment.
“Petropavlovsk has bills to pay and it will be tricky to settle up if there is no cash coming in the door. It’s no surprise to see the share price fall further on the news, now down 92% year to date.”
These articles are for information purposes only and are not a personal recommendation or advice.
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